game of the month

BOX-IN

by J.D. CASTEN

BOX-IN

You'll find an intriguing combination of arcade action and strategy challenge in this simple but highly involving game from the author of Biffdrop and other Antic hits. The BASIC program works on all Atari computers of any memory size, with disk or cassette.

We were making one of our regular bi-monthly phone calls to J.D. Casten in Eugene, Oregon, nagging him about when was he going to turn in another great Atari game. J.D. mentioned that he'd been going through his records and he wondered what became of his first game ever accepted by Antic-Box-In-late in 1983 when he was a high school freshman.
   Box-In?? No current Antic Editor had been with the magazine back in '83. We swiftly ransacked our file cabinets and found only a cryptic notation that such a game had been accepted. There was absolutely no trace of the game itself and we urged Casten to send us another disk ASAP.
   In due course, the package arrived. We read J.D.'s typically bizarre game scenario, booted Box-In, and within a few minutes we realized that Antic would be publishing a Casten game in our Christmas issue for the second consecutive year.
   But wait, there was still more. The disk also included a slick new enhancement of Biffdrop (Antic, December 1984) with moving obstacles that would look right at home in Blue Max 2001. We took this game down the hall to the Antic Catalog and now an APX Classics All-Casten Disk is in the works for the first quarter of '86.
   This new collection will feature a never-before published game plus enhanced versions of Antic's complete Casten game libarary-including Risky Rescue (April, 1984), Escape From Epsilon (June, 1984) and Advent X-5 (December 1984). By the way, if you've been trying to type in J.D.'s golden oldies, you'll find TYPO II line codes in the July, 1985 issue. -ANTIC ED

Crazy Harold loves a thrill. So he puts himself into a room with a yucky green Harold-eating monster named Gruck.
Also in this room are 100 boxes. Not just any boxes, mind you. These are the large, solid, cube-shaped, yucky green Harold-eating monster-repellent type of box.
Harold attempts to trap Gruck with the boxes before Gruck turns him into monster mulch. Harold does this by pushing the boxes around Gruck until the monster cannot make a move (including diagonally). At the same time, Gruck-using more than his eyes, but less than his brain- ominously moves around searching for a quick Harold snack.

USING BOX-IN
Who will help Harold survive his thrill? Enter our hero, J. Q. Public. Type in Listing 1, check it with TYPO II and SAVE a copy before you RUN it.
[SELECT] a difficulty level. The higher the difficulty the slower you go and the faster Gruck goes. [START] the game and use the joystick to move Crazy Harold (remember diagonals).
Even if arcade games are the bane of your existence, I highly suggest you try this one out. I have found that many people who dislike arcade action games enjoy Box-In. Probably that's because even though Gruck may not be the fastest-moving monster around, you'll discover that you need to use plenty of strategy in order to protect Harold with the boxes.

Listing 1 BOXIN.BAS Download